Centum
by SeeMeInTheShadows
Summary: Their toughest challenges were sometimes the ones they never had to face. From the Xana's Lair drabble challenges. Current Drabble: Bronze- Emily wasn't stupid. She was just hidden.
1. WD: 1 Photo

A/N: Enough members were posting these, I figured I would as well. Each are exactly 100 words and written for the Xana's Lair weekly drabble competition.

* * *

A thin moonbeam stretches into a darkened room while a figure slips in silently.

Quickly, it walks to a pile of boxes, and pulls out one. Going through the box, he or she seems to find whatever it is looking for.

A small piece of paper is pulled out. The paper lands underneath the moonlight and a photo of five smiling faces is easily recognizable. The figure stares for a long while.

Then, a baby's cries are heard from the end of the hall, and as quick as it came in, the figure is gone.

The photo is again lost.


	2. WD: 2 Dark Instinct

They all have them. Jim does too. And Yumi's parents. Anyone who has had the unfortunate duty to wake them up.

The scratches and bruises are clear against skin.

Because when they sleep, they don't go off into a peaceful world of dreams. They go to a world that mimcs their life. They toss and turn and they scream and they fight.

And when they wake up, they're as wild as animals and they haven't left their dreams fully. So they scream and they fight. And they punch and scratch.

No one knows why. It's their secret and their burden.


	3. WD: 3 A Different Meeting

Sissi watched as her date, Odd Della Robbia moved through the dance floor. But her eyes were drawn to another figure, Ulrich Stern. He also moved slowly to the table with refreshments. But he seemed out of it, watching someone else. Yumi Ishiyama. But her eyes weren't paying attention as she also moved towards the table.

Jeremy Belpois, who was already there, didn't notice the three other figures walking towards him. He didn't really care. They were four different people who had their own friends and who knew each other on pleasantries only.

The temperature in the room still dropped.


	4. WD: 4 Twelve

He didn't know where he was walking to, and he didn't really care. He didn't remember why he was walking; only that he was and he had to continue. Each step he took drained his already depleted energy supply further.

But he kept on walking.

There was a building in his line of vision. He would get there and then he would take a break. The distance which normally would have seemed like nothing, was now all too impossible.

But he kept on walking.

It wasn't enough. Twelve steps away from the building, Odd Della Robbia stopped fighting and slept.


	5. WD: 5 Monster

The blok had been a mutant, they later decided.

It hadn't even been a mission; they had just decided to look around for a bit. While walking, it had meandered over to them, probably after getting lost on the way to the previous attack.

Odd's laser had missed. Ulrich and Yumi went after it, but they both bumped into each other, devirtualizing one another. While Odd was distracted, the blok pushed him over the edge and he had to be devirtualized by Jeremy. Aelita, seeing the situation, desperately ran into the nearest tower where Jeremy pulled her back to Earth.


	6. WD: 6 Miss Popularity

Sissi knows that Ulrich likes her.

He didn't at first, she knows, but she wasn't one to give up without trying.

She doesn't know what brought the change. There where days where she was more tired than usual and she did what she always did, yet they had acted different.

As time goes on, and they become more accepting of her, she isn't sure if what she used to feel is still there. The group doesn't keep secrets anymore, and Ulrich likes her, even if he hides it. But she doesn't care.

Prizes are only worth the challenge they present.


	7. WD: 7 Future: Aelita

The logical choice was for her to do something with computers. The reasoning was obvious enough. Her friends also suggested being a doctor, she had the smarts and she would help others, so it seemed like the second most logical choice.

However, she isn't really sure what she wants to do, so she takes an acting class and falls in love with it. She stays up late to practice and goes to audition after audition and though, at first, it is completely heartbreaking and soul-consuming. She can't imagine her life without it.

Plus, she gets to keep her pink hair.


	8. WD: 8 Future: Jeremy

Jeremy Belpois had attended a prestigious university, graduated early, and was still first in his class. By the time he was twenty-three, he was traveling around the world for his job. By twenty-six he had gone solo, had five patents, and was working on more.

He became a billionaire by age thirty and revolutionized technology, allowing for our lives to be simpler and more efficient.

Yet, he never forgot his routes. He is still in contact with his friends (who are also very successful in their particular fields) and plans on sending his future children to his old high school.


	9. WD: 9 Halloween

They weren't as brave when they were young.

Aelita had been afraid of vampires that she knew would come in through her window, Ulrich of the boogieman underneath his bed, Odd could swear he could hear the screams of ghosts, and Yumi had been absolutely petrified just thinking of zombies.

They swear they got over their fears. But Ulrich still checks underneath his bed, Aelita never sleeps with her windows open, Odd can't sleep with strange noises, and Yumi goes pale whenever zombies are mentioned.

On Halloween, they jump at the drop of a pin, and Sissi loves it.


	10. WD: 10 Returnings

The world was silent as Ulrich looked around. There was no wind to speak of, no movement, and no sounds.

"Was it always this quiet?" he whispered as he began walking. He was absolutely alone, and he knew it. But his body was on guard; his neck tingling. He couldn't get rid of his uneasy sense. It was like a graveyard here, and in a way, it was.

"No sign of anything," he said. "Bring me back."

"Okay," Aelita said from the supercomputer.

For years, he had dreamed of returning to Lyoko. Now he didn't.

It had lost its magic.


	11. WD: 11 Friendship

She looks through her father's old yearbook for answers.

She see pictures of him (a nerd), with a jock, an oddball, and an outsider. Later, a punk (or so it seems) comes and even later, a cool guy and popular girl join.

"We made it work," her father says from the doorway. "We lost our glue, but we didn't fall apart."

She doesn't mention that she has never seen any of these people. She doesn't get answers the answers she was looking for.

She still doesn't know why her father looks wistfully at fairies and geishas and ninjas and cats.


	12. WD: 12 Like the Movies

"Hey Odd, are you okay?" Yumi asked, looking down at him.

"You took a pretty big fall there," Ulrich said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Odd grumbled as he reached for their outstretched hands. They pulled him up and Yumi brushed some dust off of his shoulder.

However, as soon as they let go, he found his legs giving out and himself falling towards the ground for the second time that day. Luckily, his pals grabbed him before he hit the ground.

"I don't think that was your brightest idea," Yumi reflected.

Odd grimaced in pain. "It looks easier in movies."


	13. WD: 13 Thirteen

"You know what they say about thirteen," Yumi said as they waited for their ride. Odd stared until she pointed at his hand and then at hers.

There were thirteen candies cradles in his palm along with the wrapper and thirteen in hers. He shrugged and ate all of them in one gulp as she slowly picked at hers.

Later, their friends didn't know about the candies as they waited silently at the hospital- and later in Jeremy's dorm- for news. But when Ulrich was walking, a wrapper hit him in his face and all he could feel was fear.


	14. WD: 14 Friendship and Food

The first Brussels sprout sailed through the air before coming to land neatly on Aelita who could only stare forward in shock.

Jeremy wasn't there to be in love, so Odd took over the job of protecting Aelita, or in this case getting revenge. He grabbed a chunk of his mashed potatoes and threw them in the directly the sprout had come from.

It hit William, who was having a bad day anyway. He took his anger out on a defenseless Ulrich (still in line) but hit an angry Yumi instead.

Yumi grabbed some carrots and smiled. It was on.


	15. WD: 15 Christmas

It was a very Nicolas and Herve filled Christmas. Of course, that being said, any time you were in a small space with Nicolas and Herve, they tended to fill it. Neither had the most attractive odor and growths spurts weren't kind to Nicolas' shorts.

Of course, being locked with them in the supply closet after the two had a bean eating contest wasn't helping their cases.

Jeremy, Ulrich, and Odd had scratched at the door when they learned they were trapped. Now they had decided to accept their fate.

Herve smiled. "So what do you guys think of Sissi?"


	16. WD: 16 Resolution

The day he graduated from Kadic, he made himself a promise. He wasn't the same he had been years earlier (though if you asked anyone else, they might deny that notion).

He promised he would be there when other needed him.

He promised he would stop being so selfish.

He promised he would think about the consequences of his actions.

He promised he would do anything for the people he cared about.

Nine years later, William Dunbar is the only person who sees the signs and the only person who takes a journey to the factory by his old school.


	17. SS: Nostalgia

A/N: Not technically for XL's weekly drabbles, but I got roped into this for Summer Santas. And it was fun to write, so I figured I'd post it.

* * *

His son unwraps the sword with glee and proceeds to spend the next three hours running around the house.

"I thought you wanted a peaceful Christmas," he tells his wife.

She shrugs. "What can I say? The sword reminded me of you." She laughs, kisses him on the cheek, and walks across the room to try out the new massage chair.

His eyes don't darken anymore at the mention of Lyoko and there won't be a strain in his voice, but he's not proud of what he's done.  
Yumi knows that.

But for some reason, she chose him over Ulrich.


	18. WD: 17 Last Call

"We will find you!" Ulrich shouted into the phone. There's a silence and he can practically see Odd's head shake.

"Take care of Kiwi."

Then the line is disconnected.

They never did find him. But the thing that troubles Ulrich the most is that they don't know how. And they don't know why.

Some days, when he's feeling particularly sorry for himself, he believes that something happened. Blackmail, kidnapping, threats, witness protection.

But the days where he's being honest with himself, he thinks that maybe they never knew him. Maybe Odd just ran away. Like Kiwi did a month later.


	19. WD: 18 Blink of an Eye

Everything changed.

Just a second ago, they had been winning. Not the battle, but the war. Everything would have been okay.

Would have.

Before any of them could even realize it, the tides had turned. More monsters had come, they had grown weaker, and one of them had been lost. Forever.

And nothing will ever be alright again. How do you look at the empty spot where a comrade, a teammate, a friend used to sit and say that anything is ever okay?

And then sometimes, you wake up. And you realize that it was all a dream.

Everything changed.


	20. XLO: 1 Nerves

Jeremie's hands shook as he carefully typed in the code. Odd and Ulrich stood on either side of him though they had no comforting hands to place on his shoulders, mostly because they were both stifling laughter.

"Relax, Einstein.

"Odd's right; Lyoko isn't that bad," Ulrich said.

Eventually, the time came where Jeremie had to quit stalling and face reality. Virtual reality, that is.

His body was shaking as he entered the scanner, and the next thing he knew, he was flat on a rocky ground.

Once Ulrich and Odd took a look at him, nothing could stop their laughter.


	21. G: 1 World

She can hear his world crumbling.

It's all around her, and if she closes her eyes, she can almost believe that she's there. Dodging chunks of the falling sky and jumping over debris that shouldn't be there. But all the while holding his hand. Always holding his hand.

Her imagination is incomplete. She doesn't know what his world is like, not even the color of his eyes. Now she knows what his scream sounds like and she knows how silence can be more heartbreaking then any sound.

And when she hears his voice again, she can almost feel the tears.


	22. XLO: 2 Start

They just didn't have the chemistry.

That was the reason they finally decided to call it quits. They were a genius, a goofball, an athlete, a punk, and a virtual being. Nothing bound them except their job, and not even the pressure of the world could turn them from the rough coal they were to the dazzling diamonds they could be.

So they did what they could, but the close calls grew and the second chances slowly slipped away.

So on a solemn day that was entirely too sunny, they turned of the computer.

It was over before it started.


	23. XLO: 3 Rush

Looking back, the whole thing was a blur.

He ran up to her one day, and they just talked. And then the next she knew, they were going to cafés, first as friends and then as something more. And just a second later (or so it seemed) they were kissing.

And somehow, he had brought her zip lining and she had fallen in love. With the activity. And maybe with him.

He wasn't full of 'somedays.'

Life had been ULRICH, ULRICH, ULRICH. And then, somewhere, somehow it had slowly turned into odd. Odd. ODD.

And Yumi Ishiyama couldn't be happier.


	24. XLO: 4 Bronze

Kadic was not a school well known for its precocious students.

Sure, it had its fair share of prodigies, an occasional genius, and numbers upon numbers of certainly gifted students, though not exceptional.

But there were always exceptions.

Jeremie was just….smart. The next household name. Future computer programmer for sure with his pick of future education.

And in any other school, Herve would be the local smart guy instead. But, Jeremie's shadows drowned him out, his talents hidden by acne and glasses.

And if Herve was hidden by Jeremie, then was there really any hope for her?

Emily didn't know.


End file.
